At that moment, roughly half the keys remained untested.
But judging by their earlier pace, there was still a good chance they could find the right key and open the door before midnight.
However, Bo Yi was not the only one who heard the footsteps coming from the stairs-
The player working on the door was already irritated by how difficult the keys were to pull out, making the whole process a struggle. Now footsteps had suddenly appeared, too. Worse, they came at perfectly even intervals, each step seeming to land directly on his taut nerves.
On top of that, something seemed to be wrong with the key in his hand. He tried several times but still could not get it into the keyhole. The players watching him closely seized the opportunity to mock him. "Can you do this or not?!"
"Exactly. If you're tired, let us take over. Look how badly your hands are shaking. You can't even get a key in. Can you stop wasting everyone's time...?"
That only made him more irritable. "Shut up!" He turned to glare at the other players, ready to keep berating them into silence, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the nearby staircase... and the dense mass covering it.
Patients in identical hospital gowns crowded the stairs, packed together without a single gap. They stood motionless on the steps, staring intently at him-and the others-with expressionless faces.
With a jingle, the ring of keys dropped from his hand onto the floor.
Time seemed to freeze for a second.
Once the other players realized what had happened, their stunned expressions were instantly consumed by uncontrollable fury, twisting into vicious scowls. "What the hell are you doing?!!!"
They glared at the keys on the floor, their chests heaving